


Locked Inside

by cherryrosetart



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Crying, Heavy Angst, M/M, Mavin, Michael Jones fic challenge, Nightmare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-11
Updated: 2015-06-11
Packaged: 2018-04-03 21:29:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4115551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherryrosetart/pseuds/cherryrosetart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The sun had just set in the Austin sky, and Michael stayed behind to work on his latest episode of Rage Quit. Gavin stuck around too, wanting to watch him “rage out” over a not-so-easy-to-beat game. These were always his favorite because he had fun raging over these silly games; He knew the fans got a kick out of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Locked Inside

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for Chu's (glackedandmullered on tumblr) Michael Jones fic challenge. Hope you like it.

The sun had just set in the Austin sky, and Michael stayed behind to work on his latest episode of Rage Quit. Gavin stuck around too, wanting to watch him “rage out” over a not-so-easy-to-beat game. These were always his favorite because he had fun raging over these silly games; He knew the fans got a kick out of them. Michael set up his camera and slipped on one of his beanies to “get into character,” and plopped down into his chair, grabbing his controller. Gavin set up a chair behind him just to the left and prepared for the fun.  
  
As Michael played, he screamed loudly at the screen, and a few times threw his controller to the floor. Thankfully, the controller didn’t break, and he would get right back into the game. At some point, he had gone completely red-faced, and Gavin was laughing his ass off at the sight. Michael became more enraged--as he did--and turned his rage toward the lanky Brit. Gavin only laughed harder which caused Michael to bellow at the man, his face a dark red now as he looked like he was about to explode. Then, all went black.  
  
_Michael could hear voices whispering, but couldn’t understand a single word. He strained to move but felt like his body was completely stiff. He tried to raise his arm, but it just stayed still. He tried to look around as much as he could but his head didn’t move either, so all he could see was a white ceiling and a bright light coming from some direction. Michael tried to speak but no sound, not even the smallest peep was heard. He couldn’t understand what was happening, and he was so scared._  
  
_He could still hear the voices though. They sounded so familiar, but he couldn’t quite place them. What were they saying? Did they know him? Did they know what was going on with him? Why couldn’t he move? Why couldn’t he speak? Michael wracked his brain trying to remember something, anything that could tell him what was going on. How did this happen? Where was he? He wrestled with his mind searching for answers, but nothing was coming to him. He wanted to scream, but all he could do was cry… at least he thought he was crying. He felt something wet on his face but couldn’t touch it._  
  
Michael sat up suddenly dripping in sweat breathing heavily when he was instantly surrounded by familiar faces. He glanced around and noticed he was in the hospital, and his friends were all there to greet him. He couldn’t have been happier seeing the ugly mugs of those he called his friends, especially the lanky one he dubbed his favorite idiot.  
  
“Oh my god, Michael, you worried the shit out of me,” Gavin started with a nervous laugh. “I thought you were done for.”  
  
“Nah, can’t get rid of me that easy, you pleb. Hey guys, did Gavin tell you I was gonna die?” Michael asked his other friends.  
  
Geoff smacked Gavin playfully though a little hard in the face and laughed. “Yep. He had us worried as dicks about ya. But I see you’re totally fine, so you don’t need us here.” Geoff gave Michael a pat on the shoulder and a smile, but his eyes showed his worry.  
  
“Yeah buddy, thought you were gonna leave us. Really glad you’re okay. Do you know what happened?” Jack asked.  
  
Michael shook his head. “Not a fucking clue. I haven’t seen a doctor since I’ve been awake, and I can’t remember shit about what happened earlier. What the hell _did_ happen, Gav?”  
  
“I don’t know. You were yelling at me as usual, and then you fell down. I called an ambulance after I realized you weren’t just mucking about,” Gavin responded.  
  
“I could go find you a doctor,” Ryan commented, pointing in the direction of the nurse’s station with his thumb, his other hand in his pocket.  
  
“Yeah, thanks, Ry-bread,” Michael smiled. He then turned his attention back to Gavin, a scowl covering his face. “The fuck? You actually thought I’d be fucking with you like that?” Michael asked appalled. The other guys laughed as Michael socked Gavin in the arm.  
  
“Well…”  
  
“Fuck you, you sausage.”  
  
Geoff laughed heartily as did the others, and they knew their friend was fine. Ryan made his way to the nurse’s station and asked for a doctor to be sent to Michael’s room then made his return. The friends hung around Michael until the doctor arrived and then left him alone to find out his results.  
  
“So, doc, am I dying?” Michael asked laughing.  
  
The doctor chuckled checking Michael’s chart. “Not today, Mr. Jones. Whatever happened to you doesn’t seem to be showing up on any of our tests. As far as I’m concerned, you’re totally fine and can go home. I take it your friends are here to do that?”  
  
“Yep. Thanks, doctor. Will I need to come back for anything else?”  
  
“Nope, things look good. I’ll go over the results with you and if you feel you need further testing, feel free to come back.”  
  
The two men went over Michael’s test results, all showing no sign of any problems whatsoever. Michael did wonder though what may have caused his blackout. _Maybe it was too much alcohol,_ he thought; but he didn’t really drink that much or that often and shook off the possibility. He was released from the hospital, and Geoff drove him home with Gavin tagging along.  
  
The two lads got out of Geoff’s car saying their goodbyes and headed into Michael’s apartment. Michael dropped his keys into a small bowl sitting near the entryway, and made his way to the bathroom.  
  
“I’m gonna take a quick shower, I’ll be out in a few,” Michael said to Gavin as he gestured toward the couch for the Brit to sit.  
  
While Michael showered, he thought about what could have possibly happened to him the previous night, and tried to remember anything that would help. As he thought, he noticed the water was the perfect temperature; normally he’d have to play with the knob for a while, and usually he’d get freezing cold water before it got warm. It was nice, and he closed his eyes relaxing under the spray.  
  
His thoughts melted away, no longer worried about what may have happened to him, and his attention turned to the idea of Gavin. Well, at the moment, it was just an idea; Up until now things had only been platonic with the lanky lad, but after such a strange occurrence, he figured now would be the perfect time to tell Gavin he had deeper feelings for the younger man. He finished cleaning himself and quickly got out of the shower.  
  
After toweling off and changing into clean clothes, Michael came out to find Gavin rifling through his games, a mess now littering the floor. Michael couldn’t help but laugh when normally he’d probably blow his top off. Gavin turned around to see Michael and smiled.  
  
“How was the shower?” Gavin asked.  
  
“Warm. Having fun?” Michael inquired using his eyes to point toward the pile.  
  
“Yep. I was looking for something we could play and I found a few of them. Do you wanna play this one, this one, this one, or this one?” Gavin asked showing a different game with each ask.  
  
“Doesn’t matter… Hey, you want a beer?” Michael made his way into the kitchen and grabbed two beers out of the fridge before Gavin even answered. Gavin didn’t have to answer, Michael already knew what he would say. He walked back into the living room and plopped down on the couch handing Gavin a beer and taking a controller in hand.  
  
The two boys played until well in the early morning hours. Around what felt like three in the morning, Michael realized he wasn’t even tired. Maybe he had slept much longer than he thought while he’d been in the hospital. He paused the game and turned to face Gavin.  
  
“Are you even tired yet?”  
  
“Nope. What time is it anyway?”  
  
“About three, I think. You hungry?”  
  
“I could eat. Wanna play another game or keep playing this one?”  
  
“It doesn’t matter,” Michael called out from the kitchen making some pizza bites for the two of them.  
  
“Hey Gav… I wanted to talk to you about something,” Michael started when he came back to sit down. He set the pizza bites on the table and handed Gavin another beer. He wasn’t really sure how he was going to start in on his feelings since he wasn’t really the type to just spew them especially to his friends.  
  
“What’s on your mind, Michael?”  
  
“Well… uh…” Michael had no idea where to begin. At that moment, he practically prayed that Gavin would just know what he was thinking and say something instead, but what were the likely chances of that happening?  
  
“I know what you’re going to say, Michael,” Gavin revealed. “I’m not a total idiot, you know.”  
  
Michael looked at the Brit completely confused. “Okay, then tell me what I was gonna say.”  
  
“Michael, I know it’s not easy for you to do this, so I’ll do it for you.”  
  
“What the hell are you talking about?” Michael raised an eyebrow at Gavin.  
  
“What you want to say to me… I know what it is.”  
  
There was no _way_ that boy knew what Michael was going to say. It just wasn’t possible. Michael figured the lad was just fucking with him but was curious so he gave Gavin his undivided attention. “Okay, tell me… what was I gonna say?”  
  
Gavin grinned mischievously and jumped up from the floor to sit beside Michael on the couch. “Do you want me to use words or…”  
  
“Or what? Gavin, will you just fucking tell me already. Stop fucking around.”  
  
“Will you yell at me if I don’t stop?”  
  
“Do you want me to yell at you?”  
  
“I like it when you yell,” Gavin admitted with a bit of a giggle.  
  
“You’re a fucking idiot, you know that?” Michael wanted to be “mad” at the Brit, but Gavin was grinning like an idiot would so instead he laughed.  
  
“What’s so funny?”  
  
“You are. You pretend to know what I’m talking about just to piss me off. Well, it’s not gonna work this time.”  
  
Michael got up to change the game in the console, but before he could reach it, Gavin grabbed his hand and pulled him back down, kissing him unexpectedly. Taken aback, it took Michael a moment before giving in and kissing back, taking Gavin’s head in his hands and deepening the kiss.  
  
Time seemed to go by seamlessly. Before he knew it, the sun had risen and set, or at least he thought it did. He was completely lost in Gavin that he didn’t really care. They went even further, taking their new-found passion to the bedroom where they spent the rest of the following day figuring things out between them. Sometimes they talked, sometimes they kissed, and sometimes they were much more intimate.  
  
When they finally finished and were completely exhausted, both had fallen asleep. Michael, however, had trouble sleeping. He was having the same dream as before; it felt more like a nightmare.  
  
_The voices were talking again, but he couldn’t make out a single word they were saying. Why were they so familiar yet he couldn’t place them? Again, he couldn’t move, not even slightly, and he wanted to scream. He made an attempt to, but not a sound would come out._  
  
_He started to cry again, strangely feeling the wetness on his face, when he heard the voices a little closer this time. He still couldn’t make out what they were saying, nor could he figure out who they were. He tried to be louder with his sobs, but it didn’t seem to make a difference._  
  
Michael sat up with a start, screaming the scream he couldn’t get out of his throat in the dream, and Gavin’s eyes shot open.  
  
“Michael, are you all right?”  
  
Michael breathed heavily as if trying to catch his breath, and nodded his head. “I just had a bad dream is all.”  
  
Gavin rubbed Michael’s back soothingly, and kissed him softly on the cheek. “Are you sure, love?”  
  
“Yeah… go back to sleep.”  
  
Michael got up to go to the bathroom and splashed water on his face trying to calm his still heavy-beating heart, and took several deep breaths. He looked into the mirror but his reflection seemed different to him, almost as if he were looking into a funhouse mirror. He chocked it up to sleeplessness, and splashed his face once more.  
  
Back in bed, Michael lied there staring up at the ceiling thinking about his nightmare. What did it mean? Who were those voices? What happened to him that night during his Rage Quit filming? Why couldn’t he remember anything? The nightmare started after that incident, but what caused it?  
  
Michael eventually fell back asleep only to be wakened a short time later by the smell of something delicious. He opened his eyes, grateful for not having the nightmare a second time, and sat up.  
  
“Did Gavin cook?” Michael asked himself. “I didn’t think he cooked.” He got out of bed and headed into the kitchen where an apron-only wearing Gavin was standing there like he’d been caught doing something ridiculous with a frying pan in one hand and a spatula in the other.  
  
“Morning,” the Brit said cheerfully then went about his cooking as if it were a normal thing.  
  
“Morning. Is there coffee?” Michael opened a stool and sat down against the counter.  
  
“Of course there is. I know how much you love your caffeine.” Gavin poured a cup for his new beau setting the milk and sugar beside it.  
  
Michael felt like he was in Heaven. He didn’t actually have to talk about his feelings, and Gavin absolutely knew what he wanted to say to him without ever saying a word. He started a new relationship with someone he had always wanted to be with, and things couldn’t be better. But his nightmare was irking him something fierce, and he couldn’t understand why.  
  
“Since we’re obviously not going into work today--I already called Geoff, by the way--I figured we could get some more beer and order in. Interested?” Gavin asked wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.  
  
“Does that mean I have to be alone with you again?” Michael asked playfully bitchy.  
  
“Unless you don’t want to be. I could always go home…”  
  
“You’re not going anywhere!” Michael exclaimed as he got up and wrapped his arms around Gavin’s waist, his hands squeezing the lanky lad’s ass.  
  
“That’s what I thought.”  
  
Days passed, weeks, months even and Michael was living blissfully as if the world suddenly revolved around him. Things at work were as if he were in charge. Geoff seemed to pick the games that he wanted to play, and every single comment made to or about him was pleasant.  
  
Michael couldn’t figure out why all this was now happening, but he didn’t want to jinx it by saying anything. The only things that ruined his near-perfect life were his constant nightmares. Each night they were the same yet somehow slightly different. He’d force himself to cry more, and the voices always seemed to get louder as if surrounding him, but he could never see who they were let alone tell whose voice was whose. Each voice was distinct to him, and he knew he recognized them, but he could not for the life of him place a voice to a face.  
  
Michael put it out of his mind; as far back as he could every morning and throughout the day, not wanting it to destroy his happiness. After all, it was only a dream, right?  
  
**********  
  
After a while, his dreams started to feel more real, as if they were trying to tell him something, and he would wake up with excruciatingly painful headaches. It caused him to drink more to deal with the pain, but he always remained his usual self when around his friends and Gavin.  
  
Things with Gavin only got better and better though, and he never expected Gavin to be so responsive as a boyfriend. Even with his headaches, Gavin would help him with ice packs or aspirin, or even getting him something stronger than beer to take the edge off.  
  
Michael returned to the hospital for testing to find out the cause of his headaches, but he could never get a straight answer. All his test results warranted no answers whatsoever. In fact, they often came back inconclusive.  
  
As his headaches worsened, he noticed he was having more trouble seeing, even with his glasses on. He went to get his eyes checked, but the doctor said he was fine, though offered a stronger prescription even if he didn’t felt it was necessary.  
  
Some days Michael would suddenly feel weak and almost sort of numb in parts of his body, but they never seem to bother him too much when Gavin was around. Gavin had a soothing touch, warm-like and comforting. Often, the lanky Brit would massage his boyfriend from head to toe, giving him comfort as his problems worsened.  
  
Michael fell asleep one night alone, and the nightmare became incredibly vivid. He was still staring up at the ceiling of white with a bright florescent light shining from several directions, still hearing those same voices. He could hear his mind calling out to those voices, desperate for some sort of revelation.  
  
_Who are you?_ He thought. _Why can’t you hear me? What’s going on? Please, answer me!_ He could feel himself getting angry but that seemed to cause him pain in his head, and he calmed himself. He tried again vehemently to move some part of him, any part of him, but nothing would move. He could feel it though, as if he were actually in the nightmare. It scared him and he started to cry again, and the voices got even closer. There was one voice in particular that kept getting to him. He knew that voice, but who was it?  
  
_Just a little closer,_ Michael thought. _I can hear you, show yourself. Who are you? Please tell me who you are. I need to know…_  
  
Michael suddenly woke up, and his room was completely dark. He couldn’t see anything at all. He felt around for Gavin, but Gavin wasn’t there either. He carefully got out of bed and felt his way out of the room, but even the rest of his apartment was dark.  
  
“What’s going on?” He heard himself say as it echoed through the apartment. Michael felt around for the kitchen counter but couldn’t seem to find it. “I’ve gotta find the door.”  
  
Michael continued slowly making his way through his pitch-black home, feeling around for anything familiar. He couldn’t even find his couch. He wasn’t even sure he was in his own place anymore. He was frightened to say the least, and wanted nothing more than to wake up from what felt like another nightmare.  
  
When he pinched himself, he realized he wasn’t dreaming. “The door has to be here somewhere…” His voice sounded strange to himself, strangled almost. “SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON!” Michael shouted as best he could, but to him, his voice sounded like a child, small and meek. “Please…”  
  
He started to sob, and fell to his knees, hoping that Gavin would turn on a light and yell, “surprise,” and everything would be fine. He wouldn’t even get too angry at the lad for scaring him. But as he waited, nothing changed, no one was there.  
  
Determined, Michael stood up. “Fuck this, I’m gonna get out of here.” He walked quickly toward the general direction of his front door, and felt around. He finally found a wall, and practically hugged it just for some sort of structure, but it began to crumble in his hands creating a small hole. Through the hole he could see some sort of light, enough for him to find the door.  
  
Before he reached the door, he looked behind him at his apartment, and there was nothing there. Everything was gone, it was completely bare. It didn’t make any sense to him, but all he cared about was getting out of there.  
  
He opened the door and the one voice that stuck out in his dream, the one he could swear he definitely knew could be heard over a cacophony of other voices. He could almost make out what it was saying when suddenly he felt a terrible jolt go through his body as if he were being electrocuted.  
  
Michael fell to the floor, but he got back up again, much weaker than before. He tried to get out the door, but as he tried to step out, another jolt was sent through his body. This one was so horrible he could no longer stand up. He crawled over to the door and with what little voice he had left, he called out, “Gavin…”  
  
Another jolt sent him flying so much further away from the door. He no longer had the energy or the will to crawl back to the door. He felt himself slipping away. _No, this can’t be happening to me…_  
  
The light from the door began to fade as he lied there unable to move, when the voices became utterly clear.  
  
“Call it,” one voice said.  
  
“Time of death, 10:15,” another voice said.  
  
_I’m dead… but I’m… still… here…in my… mind…_  
  
The other voices faded away just as the darkness began to engulf him. Before the light went out completely, one other voice could be heard, and this time he knew who it was.  
  
“Michael…” he heard the voice say; It was Gavin. “I never got to tell you…” Gavin was sobbing profusely that his words were almost unintelligible. “I was going to tell you that night after you recorded your show, but you fell over, and I couldn’t do anything to help you. When they ambulance arrived, you weren’t even responding. We put you on life support for as long as we could, but you just didn’t hold on… Your brain… had an aneurysm…” Gavin choked back his rigorous sobs. “Michael… I love you… I never got to tell you…”Gavin’s voice faded.  
  
Michael didn’t get to hear the rest of what Gavin had to say, but as the darkness consumed him, he smiled, just slightly, knowing that his feelings were met even if he’ll never have an opportunity to share them with the one he loved.


End file.
